Will Abc Lead Invasion Elsewhere?

TJ FROM LA TOM JICHA

January 25, 2006|T. J. from L. A.

Pasadena, Calif. — Almost any series on TV would kill for the time slot following Lost. One exception is Invasion, the show that has the coveted hour. Shaun Cassidy, creator of the sci-fi series about an alien incursion in Homestead after a major hurricane, said he would just as soon be almost anywhere else on ABC's schedule, with a 9 p.m. time slot for preference.

Gilded time periods come with elevated expectations, and Invasion hasn't been able to live up to them. It dissipates about half of Lost's lead-in, an unacceptable dropoff. Cassidy's feeling is that those who watch his show are dedicated enough to find it wherever it is scheduled. The bar would be sufficiently lowered elsewhere so that this fan base would make Invasion a survivor, if not a raging success.

The problem is either too much of a good thing or too much of the same thing, depending on your perspective. Invasion got a glowing endorsement from ABC Entertainment President Steve McPherson, but the network programmer did acknowledge it is not performing to satisfactory ratings levels.

"Invasion is a great, great show," he said. "We believe in that show. We think [Cassidy] has done an amazing job of not only creating that world but of reacting to what was working and what wasn't working on the fly. Why it is not holding on to the Lost audience, there are a lot of theories. People say, `I watch that one hour of Lost. It's such an intense experience. No matter what you put there, I'm not going to watch anything else.'"

Cassidy said they saw this coming. "It's a conversation we had since before they scheduled us. They said, `Here's the good news. We're putting you after Lost. But we have one concern. Lost is very dense, intelligent and serialized and your show is the same. We feel it might be too much.' I think there might be something to that."

Tonight's episode might clear up some issues for those who haven't been avid viewers, Cassidy said. It's the first one with significant flashbacks; except for second unit scene-setters, the series hasn't been back to South Florida since the pilot.

Sgt. Tom Underlay, whose body was apparently taken over by otherworldly beings after a plane crash in the Everglades 10 years ago (think ValuJet), suffers a traumatic event. With his life in jeopardy and his wife Mariel tending him, he flashes back to their first encounter after the plane crash, when Mariel, a doctor, was married to Everglades ranger Russell Varon.

"You get a lot of background and find out who Tom is," Cassidy said. He is assumed to be a villain because he was the first one in the community taken over by the aliens, and he seems to be manipulating and covering for others who subsequently have suffered a similar fate, including Mariel. "People say, `Oh, he's the bad guy. He knows what's going on. He's connected,'" Cassidy said.

Actually, Tom might be a savior, according to Cassidy. "He came into this a victim, too. He was taken and changed but nobody said to him, `Here's the plan. The aliens are going to arrive on such and such a date. They're going to take over humanity and kill all the people.' It's not like a sci-fi movie. It's much messier. He knows instinctively that if the world finds out they're different, they could be killed, dissected or thrown on Oprah. He doesn't want that, so he's trying to contain it. It's the only way he knows to survive right now."

It also would be wrong to assume that what has happened to Tom, Mariel and several others is an evil encounter, Cassidy said. "The question we must ask is, what happened? Is it good or bad. [Viewers] are making the assumption it's bad. Our show is about messing with perceptions."

This would include the perception that following a blockbuster hit is always a blessing.